Electric trucks are the lead in this week’s roundup as we discuss the six new models released Tuesday by Paccar’s brands Kenworth and Peterbilt. Each truck maker added three available electric models covering medium- and heavy-duty applications. We also look at 2026, touching on outlook webinars held this week by MEMA and FTR, and ACT Research’s most recent production outlook report published Thursday. Finally, we touch on the AI expert set to keynote HDAW’s opening general session, Monday’s NHTSA recall announcement and tease what is coming in our 2026 state of the industry report in January.
Lucas: Hey everybody. Lucas here for today’s TPS Weekly News Roundup.
Today we’re going to start with Paccar. The Paccar brands, Kenworth and Peterbilt, each introduced three new battery electric vehicle models this week. The Kenworth models, the T280 E, the T380 E, and the T480 E. And on the Peterbilt side, the 536EV, the 537EV and the 548EV. So, six new battery electric vehicles available from Paccar. All for specific applications, or sort of ideally most valuable in specific applications. You can read more about those applications and what the truck makers say about the range and the capabilities of those vehicles on TPS. Check out those stories.
Additionally, Paccar announcing that the Bendix Intellipark system is also available [for] Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks moving forward. So, a lot of news from Paccar this week. Please check out those stories.
Also, this week, there was a MEMA webinar on Tuesday looking at business conditions for the supplier sector. Thursday there was a webinar from FTR, the State of Freight report, looking at what’s expected for freight moving into 2026. And then ACT Research on Thursday put out its most recent commercial vehicle forecast report. So, if you’re kind of trying to get an understanding of what to expect from 2026, there’s three good pieces of content from some experts in the field. You can get more from the supplier space, the freight space, and from the sales space. So, check those stories out.
A couple other things. We found out this week the keynote speaker for HDAW next month in January in Texas will Noelle Russell who will be speaking on AI. I mean, could it have been any other topic? Obviously AI is the story of 2025. So, she’ll be speaking about how AI can be useful in aftermarket operations. According to HDAW organizers, her presentation is really designed for distributors and focused on how AI can make your business more efficient. So, check out that story, learn more about Noelle. We will also have an interview with her and a story with her leading up to HDAW. Check that out.
Monday’s recalls from NHTSA — there was a recall,72,000 Ram trucks were recalled. Also some other recalls in the medium-duty and heavy-duty space. Check that out.
And then our TPS industry report, which we do every other year in January. The last one was in January of 2024. We are in the process of working on that now. The survey that we did for the report was completed last week. We have that data available. We’ve been conducting interviews over the last couple months. Those stories will come out the week of Jan. 5, but we are writing them now. So, we will be teasing some of the insights from those reports on social media and on the website in the coming weeks through the holidays. And then those stories will officially be available as well as our survey results will be available to the entirety of the industry in January. But be sure to check that out when it comes out in January. Check out the little snippets we’re releasing now. But definitely you’re going to want to see those stories in January because some really good insights from across the space, from dealers, truck dealers, trailer dealers, parts and service shops, distributors about really what we’re seeing in the industry and what we can expect to see in 2026.
So, a lot of good stuff on TPS this week. Check out the website again. Like and subscribe to these emails and these videos. We want to make sure you get them every week. Have a great weekend and we will see you next week. Thank you everybody. Bye.
